Forty-two years ago Lieutenant Bruce Naile became the commanding officer of the Oakland County Sheriff’s Orion Substation, but that tenure came to a close April 2.

His replacement, Lieutenant Dan Toth has a tall order to live up to following the experienced Naile, but the well rounded 24 year veteran of law enforcement has experiences of his own.

“I’ve worked various assignments over the years, from patrol to investigations to command and more,” said Toth. “I’m a military veteran of the military police in Washington D.C., I was an Army Criminal Investigation Command Investigator in and around Washington D.C. and my last assignment was with corrections in Pontiac as a shift commander.”

Toth mentioned working in Independence and Commerce Townships, both of which he said are similar in terms of size and population to Lake Orion. He added they’re almost identical from a school and the demographic standpoint.

“I think I’ve had a lot of exposure and experience that I’m bringing to the table.”

Toth is also already familiar with Orion Township, though his knowledge comes from a time when Waldon Road was still dirt. Twenty years ago, when the township had roughly half the population it does today, Toth patrolled the roadways with now Undersheriff Mike McCabe as his commanding officer at the substation. After seeing the changes since he last worked in Orion, Toth said he was impressed with the growth.

“It certainly has grown a lot since I last worked here and it’s been a lot of explore the new subdivisions,” said Toth. “It’s very interesting to see how the township has grown and it’s nice to see the infrastructure has kept pace with the population.”

Toth plans on some changes as he takes on the responsibilities of the Orion Substation Command position, chief among them to increase communication with the community. He said he wants to refocus on the residential and subdivisional homeowner associations to discover where the deputies’ help is needed most and added he will try to solve these problems with directed patrols - a tactic made necessary by limited resources.

“There are some challenges with the budget but everyone’s budget is struggling these days,” said Toth. “That’s just something we’ll be working on in the coming months.”

He also wants the department to focus on getting community feedback on what issues need addressing and where those issues occur. Lines of communication between school and business leaders are also important to Toth.

Yet despite the intended changes he wants to make, Toth was quick to thank Naile for his service and compliment him on his place in the community.

“Naile has done a great job - he gets it all the way,” said Toth. “His community service is something else. He was showing me around the community after I got the job and I saw the level of respect he has with the leaders, businesses and people in this community and it’s high. He’s done a great job.”